


Petrified

by BigJellyMonster (orphan_account)



Series: Harry Potter Prompts [12]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, One sided, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 15:45:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8538865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/BigJellyMonster
Summary: There was a legend in the school about a boy who had gone missing 50 years ago. Harry just wants one last adventure before he graduates.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt:Hi again, - What if myrtle didn't die, but instead Tom became petrified but no one knows what happened to him - could be just a myth in Slytherin. What if Harry finds him and frees him?

There was a rumor that was whispered around the school. One of a monster that eats the students late at night if they leave their dorms after curfew. Why else would the prefects be so unnerved after a late night of patrolling the halls?

When he was only a first year, one of the older students had decided to tell them a “bedtime story” of a student fifty years ago that had gotten eaten up by the monster.

“No one remembers his name,” the student had said. “Top of his class in every subject, most popular kid in school, but he liked to wander the halls and get into all kinds of trouble when no one was looking. So, one night, he decided to do a little investigating. He went deep into the school, where the professors had specifically said to stay away from, when he should have been in bed and SNAP.” Several of the younger students had jumped in their seats. “The monster gobbled him up, never to be heard from again.”

The story had made sure that the rowdy Gryffindor students did not try to leave the dorm at night, but it only lasted for so long. As the years went by, the story lost its power over the young ones and they started venturing into the castle more and more. Some, to meet up with their boyfriend or girlfriend, others to explore the secrets of the castle freely.

Harry, of course, loved to explore the castle, even from a young age. The talk of beasts and monsters that lurked in the castle at night only seemed to increase his curiosity. He only studied things outside of class, that would help him on his adventures late at night, much to his friend Hermione’s annoyance.

He once learned how to quickly grow a non-magical plant, just because it helped him climb up to the next floor. Of course, he could have just flown up there, but where was the fun in that? Another time, he learned how to create images out of fire, simply because it entertained some fairies he found at the roof of the astronomy tower.

By the time he was in his last year, there was not a corner or secret passageway in the castle that he had not explored, no portrait unspoken to, and no creature unseen. Still, Harry was eager to find out more about the castle. So, his adventurous curiosity lead him to delve into the history of the bedtime story the older kids liked to tell the younger students.

What he found, was a name, and a newspaper clipping.

_Hogwarts is left speechless today. The search for the missing student Tom Riddle has finally come to an end after a long month. Tom Riddle, who was top of his class and beloved by all his peers, had mysteriously disappeared from Hogwarts grounds. There had been no clues left in his wake as to where he had gone._

_His close friends say that he had become obsessed with his family history after discovering that he had family in the wizarding world, after believing he was a Muggleborn since his first Hogwarts letter, and was desperate to find them._

_If anyone has had any contact with Tom Riddle recently, or has any information about his whereabouts, please contact the Ministry as soon as possible. We at the Daily Prophet would like to-_

That’s where Harry stopped reading. It was as much of a clue as he would get. Whatever Tom Riddle had found, it had led to his absence from the wizarding world, and fueled the bedtime story.

It wasn’t hard to find out more about Tom Riddle himself. The school seemed to keep an endless record of all its students and their accomplishments. There was an entire book in the library c called simply “The Best and the Brightest” that was self-updating with all the top essay’s, and assignments that the students had turned in for others to see as an example.

From what Harry could tell, Tom Riddle was truly a genius. He had a whole chapter in the seemingly endless book filled with his work, and a single page at the end that said “in Memory of one of Hogwarts’s finest students”.  He poured over every essay, every assignment, every project about Tom that there was to offer. There was even a detailed hand drawn picture of the milky way included.

The more Harry read, the more interesting Tom became. He had a way with his words that made sense to him. There was an essay about a spell for creating a light so beautiful, the stars themselves would be jealous. Soon, his work, although still perfect, became less personal. Less of Harry could say was Tom’s personal touch. Then, they stopped altogether.

There were trophies, and medals with his name on them in the trophy room. One, had Tom Riddle’s picture on it, Harry’s first time seeing the face behind the name. If there was any way to describe it, Harry had found that he suddenly had a crush on the missing boy. He was a classic picture of Handsome. Curly hair, deep brown eyes, and face that was the perfect image of high class.

Of course, to Harry’s disappointment, if the boy _was_ still alive, he would probably be an old man by now. Still, he bit his lips as he gazed at the dusty old picture, he was something to behold. It seemed, to Harry, that Tom had been perfect in every way while he was in school. The devastation the people of his time must have felt when they found out about his disappearance…

Harry’s determination to find out the truth was stronger than ever. He wrote to every teacher still alive that had taught Tom Riddle. Some wrote back with enthusiasm, telling story after story about his charm and his intelligence only serving to make Harry fall into deeper infatuation with him. Others, were angry that he would dare question them about the poor boy and that Harry should just leave it be.

One ex-professor by the name of Horace Slughorn, gave him the most valuable information. Tom had come to Slughorn many times, seeking valuable information, and giving the same in return. According to him, Tom had finally found a lead on his lineage and was trying to seek out some remnant that they had left behind.

_He believed that he was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin himself, and wanted to find the chamber of secrets as proof. I of course didn’t believe him at first. The chances of anyone from our time being directly related to one of the founders is next to impossible. That was until he started speaking the snake language. I can still hear the strange hissing sounds coming out of his mouth as if it were only yesterday._

_Tom disappeared a week later, and I often wonder if it was because he had found what he was looking for._

The Chamber of Secrets. The one thing that Harry had thought was completely out of his reach, and the mysterious Tom Riddle had most likely found it.

Found it, and then never returned.

He couldn’t let is professors or friends know what he was doing in fear of what they would think of him, or that they may have tried to stop him. He loved them all dearly, but he knew that he just had to do this. Tom Riddle, had become his obsession and there was _nothing_ that was going to keep him from finding him.

Two months, sleepless nights, a few dropped grades, and one angry letter from his mother later, and Harry had finally found what he was looking for, strangely enough, in the girl’s bathroom. A symbol of a snake on the faucet seemed to confirm what he was looking for, he just needed a way to open the door.

First, he tried every spell he could think up that might blast or unlock the door, but that did not work. Next he tried hissing nonsense at it, but after an hour he had gained nothing but a sore throat and desire for a glass of water. Finally, he tried using a snake.

He couldn’t understand a word of what the snake was saying of course, but that didn’t mean that the snake couldn’t understand him. From what he knew of his care of magical creature’s class, all animals were far more intelligent than most humans gave them credit for. All it took was a few juicy mice, and a warm place to sleep for a few nights, and the snake hissed at the door for it to open.

Harry felt his blood pumping with excitement as the sinks separated, revealing a long deep tunneled. Carefully, Harry descended into the darkness until his feet touched a rough floor. A wave of his want and the room was illuminated in a bright light. The skeletons of thousands of small animals lay at his feet.

“Gross,” Harry commented.

The way deeper into the chamber was cold, damp, and smelled like thousand-year-old rotting corpses. A large snake wound its way through the hall and ended at a large locked and round doorway. Harry didn’t even bother to try anything other than asking the snake to speak to it one more time.

As the door opened, air rushed passed him and into the large room that lay ahead. In it, stone snake heads lined the walls and a large face was carved out of the wall at the end. The chamber itself was enormous, tall enough to fit in several giants comfortable and wide enough that he could have hosted a ball without trouble if only it weren’t for the smell.

In the center of the room, lay the large rotting corpse of a basilisk, and a figure of a boy that had Harry in momentary disbelief.

Tom Riddle, the boy he had obsessed over for months, stood petrified in the middle of the chamber, eyes cast down to the watery marble floor. Harry was unable to resist placing a hand on his cheek to check if he truly was real. He didn’t look a day older than what Harry saw in the picture in the trophy room, but just as handsome.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out what had caused Tom’s petrification, and since Tom’s condition was a part of Harry’s greatest adventure yet, he worked tirelessly on the mandrake based cure. He set up a potion’s lab in the chamber so that Tom could see that he was going to be saved, at least Harry hoped so.

He found himself talking to the statue like boy as he worked, telling him about his day, family, and friends. Anything that would come to mind. Harry figures that fifty years of nothing but animal skeletons to keep him company would have been quite boring.

Finally, the day came when the cure was ready. It didn’t work as quickly as he would have hoped, but Harry had been waiting this long to find him, he could wait a little more for him to be cured. Slowly, Harry was able to get his limbs moving and into a position where Tom was comfortably laying down on Harry’s cloak on the now dry marble floor.

When his eyes opened, Harry’s breath was taken away. They were more beautiful than his picture had given him credit for. “Take it easy,” Harry had soothed. “You’re still in the chamber, and very weak. It will take a while for the antidote to have full effect.”

“Who are you?” Tom had coughed in a raspy voice. Not speaking for fifty years would do that to a person.

“My name is Harry Potter. I’m in Gryffindor as a seventh year,” He informed him.

“The only Potter I know, is a Charles Potter who graduated two years ago. Who are you really,” Tom rasped out, and tried to sit up.

Harry pushed him back down on the cloak. “Hey, take it easy. I’ll help you of here when you are a little better. You’ve been down here a long time Tom. Charles is my grandfather.”

Tom glared at him. “Very funny. How did you even get down here,” He demanded. “Only those who can speak parseltounge are supposed to be able to-“ He stopped when he noticed a small snake peeking out of the front of Harry’s robe. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Er,” Harry was unsure what to say.

“ _You there, what year is it?”_ Tom hissed at the snake. The words, although he didn’t have a clue what they meant, sent shivers down Harry’s spine.

“ _A speaker!”_ The snake hissed back excitedly. “ _There hasn’t been a human speaker in fifty years! This one had bribed me to help him down here but I would have never imaged meeting you! It is an honor. The humans say that this is the year of 1998 master.”_

“1998,” Tom said breathlessly. “Fifty years? I’ve been down here for fifty years?”

“Everyone thought you had died,” Harry explained. “You’ve been a legend that students have been passing down this whole time.”

“Is that what you were hoping to find this whole time? A legend? Sorry to disappoint,” Tom sneered. “But I’m just the boy who was idiotic enough to look in a basilisks’ eyes.” He looked away in anger and embarrassment, clearly something that he thought was beneath him.

“First one to find this place in over a thousand years,” Harry countered. “Did you know you have an entire chapter of work done by you in The Best and the Brightest? Even all of your professors seemed to be in awe of you.” Harry couldn’t help the admiration in his voice.

“You talked to my professors,” Tom asked suspiciously. “Why?”

“Well, you _are_ sort of a legend around here, and I needed more clues on where you went. Your old potions professor led me in the right direction.” Harry explained.

“You went looking for me?” Tom looked surprised.

“Well, yeah,” Harry blushed. “I mean, I’m a classic Gryffindor. I love adventure. What better way to spend my last year than to go hunting for the boy who supposedly vanished in the school and got eaten by a giant monster? Sounds silly, I know, but I have a reputation to live up to in my family.”

Tom looked at Harry as though he had grown a second head.

“But, it didn’t stay the reason I went looking for you. I mean, you were brilliant. Are brilliant. Everything I found out about you seemed to perfect, to amazing, to have actually came from a human. I became rather…. obsessed with finding out what really happened,” Harry admitted. “And well…” Harry looked at the rotting form of the basilisk. “I’m sure everyone else would like to know what had happened as well.”

Tom looked surprised at Harry’s obvious flattery. “Right… that.” Tom turned to follow Harry’s gaze and shivered. “Do you think we can get out of here now? I think spending fifty years next to this thing has been long enough.”

“Do you think you can walk that far,” Harry asked concerned.

“Not by myself,” Tom admitted.

Together, with Harry mostly carrying Tom with an arm slung over his shoulder, they made it out of the chamber. News reporters, aurors, healers, and old friends alike came to see Tom. They asked endless questions of how he found the chamber, what it was like being petrified for 50 years, what it was like waking up…

Tom was overwhelmed with all of the attention. He said that the whole reason for his absence, was to prove that he had a family in the wizarding world so that he wouldn’t have to go back to the horrible orphanage that he had to return to every summer and the wizarding world ate up his story like flies to honey. They all fell in love with now titled the boy who lived, and he became a treasure to the people.

Due to Tom still being underage, he still had to live _somewhere_ when all was said and done, and Harry had offered his home immediately much to his parent’s amusement. Tom agreed whole heartedly. It didn’t hurt that the person he was living with, was entirely infatuated with him. They spent their days together learning about whatever took Tom’s fancy or about the new time he was in.

One day, Harry had received an odd warning from his headmaster about the “true nature” of Tom Riddle, something that he had immediately dismissed as nonsense. But, the more Tom spent in the spotlight, the more the people loved it. It was all to easy for Tom to run for Minister of Magic when he was ready, and there was not a soul who went up against him.

Still, Harry thought the world of Tom Riddle and paid no mind when they would return home late some days, only to find an image of a glowing green skull with a snake coming out of its mouth in the papers the next morning. Even when he was right there with him casting the spell into the air.

**Author's Note:**

> Want to send me a prompt? Find me on tumblr!  
> BigJellyMonster.tumblr.com


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